| Debre Dammo | |
| Native Name Lang: | ti |
| Other Name: | Debre Damo, Dabra Dāmmo, Däbrä Dammo |
| Settlement Type: | Mountain and Monastery |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: |  Ethiopia |
| Subdivision Type1: | Region |
| Subdivision Type2: | Zone |
| Subdivision Name2: | Maekelay Zone |
| Pushpin Map: | Ethiopia |
| Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within Ethiopia |
| Coordinates: | 14.3739°N 39.2903°W |
| Elevation M: | 2,216 |
Debre Dammo,The monastery is known as Däbrä Dammo (with the geminated -mm-) in Tigrinya, and as Däbrä Damo in later Amharic appellations.[1] also spelled Debre Damo, Dabra Dāmmo or Däbrä Dammo), is the name of a flat-topped mountain, or amba, and a 6th-century monastery in Tigray Region of Ethiopia. The mountain is a steeply rising plateau of trapezoidal shape, about in dimension. It sits at an elevation of above sea level. It is north of Bizet and northwest of Adigrat in Central Zone, Tigray, close to the border with Eritrea.
The mountain hosted a monastery, accessible only by rope up a sheer cliff, high, is known for its collection of manuscripts and for having the earliest existing church building in Ethiopia that is still in its original style, and only men can visit it. Tradition claims that the monastery was founded in the 6th century by Abuna Aregawi.
Part of the monastery was destroyed during the Tigray War, prior to 14 February 2021.
| Debre Dammo | |
| Denomination: | Orthodox Tewahedo |
| Established: | 6th century AD |
| Founder: | Abuna Aregawi |
| Style: | Aksumite architecture |
| Dedication: | Later life of Saint Abuna Aregawi |
| Location: | Debre Dammo, Tigray Region |
| Coordinates: | 14.3724°N 39.2888°W |
The monastery received its first archeological examination by E. Litton, who led a German expedition to northern Ethiopia in the early 20th century. By the time that David Buxton saw the ancient church in the mid-1940s, he found it "on the point of collapse".[2] A few years later, an English architect, DH Matthews, assisted in the restoration of the building, which included the rebuilding of one of its wood and stone walls (a characteristic style of Aksumite architecture).[3]
Thomas Pakenham, who visited the church in 1955, records a tradition that Debre Dammo had also once been a royal prison for heirs to the Emperor of Ethiopia, like the better-known Wehni and Amba Geshen.[4] The exterior walls of the church were built of alternating courses of limestone blocks and wood, "fitted with the projecting stumps that Ethiopians call 'monkey heads'". Once inside, Pakenham was in awe of what he saw:
On 14 and 15 February 2021 during the Tigray War, Europe External Programme with Africa (EEPA) reported that the monastery had been looted and partly destroyed by the Eritrean Defence Forces. The monastery was first bombed then six EDF soldiers climbed to the plateau of the monastery, killed one monk and looted for manuscripts and treasures. Twelve buildings were described as "completely destroyed".